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Shailene Defends On-Screen Nudity: 'When I Have Sex, I'm Naked'

Shailene Woodley gets naked in her movie White Bird in a Blizzard, but she has her reasons.

The drama is set in 1988 and is about a teenage girl's life that is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears.

The Divergent star tells New York Magazine that she got some flak for her nude scenes in the film, but she thinks it was needed. "Everyone was freaked out because I'm nude, but in real life, when I have sex, I'm naked," the 22-year-old actress said. "I don't have a bra on, and I don’t usually have panties on. So let’s make a real movie! Let's bring truth to the scene! I didn't want to be exploited, but this girl--like most girls when they first have sex--doesn't know what she’s doing. I wanted their first kiss to be sloppy, teenagerish making out. When you're younger, you think you know what to do, but you really don't."

Woodley also chimed in about being compared to The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence. "As women, we are constantly told that we need to compare ourselves to a girl in school, to our co-workers, to the images in a magazine. How is the world going to advance if we're always comparing ourselves to others? I admire Jennifer Lawrence, but she's everyone's favorite person to compare me to."

She added, "Is it because we both have short hair and a vagina? I see us as separate individuals. And that's important. As women, our insecurities are based on all these comparisons. And that creates distress."